“A pastoral voice by DODO Boureima,

Executive-Secretary of Reseau Billital Maroobé

(RBM), West Africa.”

Global Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate

Change, side event livestock

November 3rd 2010, The Hague

• RBM: who, with whom, what and where

• Essentials about pastoral livestock in WCA

• Productivity indicators

• Policy and research issues

Communication Plan

Reseau (network) Billital Maroobé

Founded: 2003

Countries:

first 3 - Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger

now 7 - Mauritania, Senegal,

Benin, Nigeria

Membership base and outreach:

• 16 federations + umbrella

organisations representing

• +/- 300 000 pastoralists &

livestock keepers

• Alliances with ROPPA and

APESS

Structures:

1. General Assembly /

Coordination

• Executive Secretary

2. national platforms

3. member’s organisations

International partners:

OXFAM, Agriterra, SNV, IIED,

IUCN/WISP, OCDE/CSAO, FAO

Regional partners:

ECOWAS, UEMOA, CILSS, ALG

RBM per country in WCA

• Building and strengthening the RBM: outreach and

legitimity, structure, vision, strategy and governance

• Organisation of 3 international multi stakeholder fora

on crossborder transhumance and cattle trade (2008 -

2010)

• 4 crossborder meetings with members: learning and

discussions on transhumance, trade, health, climate

change (2006 – 2009)

Major actions 2006-2010 (1)

• Policy influence in Niger and Mali (food security)

and in Benin (suspension of Xborder

transhumance)

• Policy dialogue with ECOWAS, UEMOA, CILSS,

ALG

• Press release and open letter to Heads of State

of CILSS alerting on fodder/food crisis’ risks in

Sahelien countries (2009-2010)

Major actions 2006-2010 (2)

• 3 pillars: people (resilience,

entrepreneurs), animals (diversity,

multifunctional), environment

(natural, institutional)

• Mobility: variability / risks

productivity, market access

• >10% GDP, <2% national budgets

• Livestock / agricultural GDP: Soudan

80%, Sénégal 78%, Niger 84%,

Mauritanie 33%, Mali 33%, Tchad

34%, Burkina Faso 24% (source:

IWGIA, 3-4/09)

• Growing demand for animal products

(ECOWAS >4% year)

Pastoral livestock in WCA (1)

• Sustainable livelihoods with

comparative advantage for

20 millions people living in

remote / fragile (semi-) arid

areas

• Valorize the agro-ecological

complementarity between

areas (Xborder)

• Integrating factor of

regional economies

• Backbone of rural

economies, base of

marketable products,

biodiversity conservation

Pastoral livestock in WCA (2)

Productivity indicators Sedentary Transhumant Nomades

Annual reproduction rate 61 65 69

Mortality of cattle under the age of 1 yr

(per 100 cows)11 ,1 0 5,9

Weight of cattle at age of 300 days, in

kg98,1 80,6 88,3

Average number of milk producing days

per year286 295 321

Quantities of milk (l/yr) per cow

suitable for human consumption & milk

production cycle

575 615 668

Animal productivity by sedentary, transhumant

and nomad livestock keepers in Niger *

*Source : IIED, Modern and mobile, 2010

REDUCING VULNERABILITY, RAISING PRODUCTIVITY & PROFITABILITY:

• mobility, secured access to shared resources and land

• building social capital for conflict mitigation and risk insurance

• market development (accessibility, volatility) & finance

• empowerment of pastoral civil society and producer’s organisations

(lobbying, service delivery)

• rule of law / effectiveness of public policies / investments

ACTION RESEARCH ON TOTAL VALUE OF PASTORAL LIVESTOCK

environmental services + market value - costs

ACCES TO BASIC SERVICES IN PASTORAL AREAS

Recommendations for farmers’ innovations

& diversity management (1)

Recommendations / discussion points (2)

Follow-up to AU and ECOWAS

commitments to policy

improvement and

programme implementation

in the livestock sector

Farmer’s led implementation

of carbon sequestration

mechanisms through

sustainable rangeland

managementSpecificities of pastoral land

tenure (shared resources)

to be taken into account

« One Africa approach » by

pastoral civil society

Recommendations / discussion points (3)

• FAO « livestock’s long shadow » => 18% of GHG

emissions. Only 3% imputable to the segment of animal

production in the complete value chain…

• Value the pastoral communities for the management of

the genetic resource base (intellectual proprety rights)

• Quote IIED/SOS Sahel UK, 2010: « Until we have a better

understanding of the environmental impacts of the

different livestock sectors, it is a mistake to conclude

that mobile livestock keeping in Africa’s drylands does

more harm, through it’s contribution to global warming,

than good, through its contribution to national food

security, economic growth and carbon sequestration. »